No Charges Filed in St. Charles Stabbing Early Tuesday

Neither of two men involved in an altercation that led to a stabbing early Tuesday were willing to sign a complaint, so no charges have been filed in what St. Charles police described Wednesday as an “unusual case.”

Police said Wednesday that in most cases, a victim is willing to sign a complaint in a stabbing, but neither man suffered serious, life-threatening wounds. The man who was stabbed was treated at Delnor Hospital in Geneva and then was released.

Officers responded at 1:07 a.m. Tuesday to a report of a stabbing at 200 N. 15th St., where witnesses told them the two men involved had left on foot. The stabbing occurred in a common hallway of the apartment building, police said. Witnesses told officers the offender and the victim knew each other and both lived in the area. One of the men had been stabbed during the incident, witnesses told police.

According to police, officers searching the area found a 38-year-old man whom they took into custody. He told police he had gotten into a fight with another man while in the apartment building.

Police said the man had a torn shirt, and marks on his nose, throat, shoulders, arms, and hands, as well as wounds to his fingers and left arm and bicep. Paramedics arrived and treated him, after which police said they took him into custody pending their investigation, since officers still had not found the stabbing victim.

Officers began contacting local hospitals, but police said no one matching the physical description of the missing man with stab wounds had come in for treatment.

Police gathered evidence at the scene and recovered the knife.

Officers eventually located the 25-year-old stabbing victim sleeping in another apartment in the building. He was suffering from multiple stab wounds. Paramedics transported him to Delnor Hospital for treatment of stab wounds to his abdomen and left arm. According to the release, he was treated and released because the injuries were not life-threatening.

Neither man wanted to sign a complaint, the release states, and both were released without charges.

Had a victim been incapacitated and unable to make a decision about filing a complaint, the matter could be brought before prosecutors who could authorize charges, in effect signing a complaint on behalf of the victim, a police spokesman said. In this instance, however, that option never came into play.

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